https://arab.news/mwr94
When anyone looks at the jungle of rubble, twisted metal and collapsed buildings that constitute the graveyard of Palestinian existence in the small but overcrowded strip of land called Gaza, one has to wonder who would want to resurrect it.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced last week that, against the advice of the Israeli military, including its chief of staff, his revised objective is the complete occupation of Gaza, even though Israel has always been the legal occupier. The security Cabinet approved a plan to take control of Gaza City. Israel’s occupation of the city may take up to six months, meaning this operation will likely last into 2026. This can only be seen as a precursor to the annexation of all or large parts of the territory.
Until October 2023, anyone in Israel advocating the reoccupation of Gaza would have seen their credibility smashed in seconds. Why would Israel burden itself with this overcrowded hellhole and take on the responsibility of 2.3 million Palestinians?
But ambitions have changed and, for the “Greater Israel” fan club, opportunities have arisen. For this extremist far-right Israeli government, the genocide it is enacting has created the opportunity to empty Gaza either through expulsion or extermination. Forced displacement has been used on a massive scale and Netanyahu’s plan envisages emptying Gaza City itself. About 800,000 Palestinians will no doubt be forcibly displaced from the enclave’s largest city to the so-called safe area at Al-Mawasi further south.
